Exhilerating. Challenging. Memorable

Exhilarating, challenging and memorable is how I felt being part of the BMW Group + QUT Design Academy. This experience has not only taught me the importance of collaboration but to think left field, expanding my horizons on what can be achieved.

For my internship at the Academy I was fortunate enough to be teamed up with Josh Tulleners. BMW supervisors tasked us with developing a real-world, live UI/UX project. For me personally, being given an interaction focused project was very different and challenging tasks and took time for me to adjust trying to learn the best way to work through the project. The most significant thing I learned was the importance of communication across all parties, especially at the start of a project. However, after establishing an ongoing connection with the BMW team with regular check-ups, as well as the support from Jordan Domjahn (Design Associate) and the Academy team, Josh and I felt very comfortable. This helped us develop a strong relationship, gaining valuable feedback throughout the project. 

New Skills

I was new to the process and skills required for interface, interaction and graphic design, however a lot of my skills as an Industrial Designer did cross over easily. Some new skills like flowcharting, graphics and UX/UI layouts were very challenging, pushing me to develop, iterate and evaluate over and over (and over). This taught me the importance of iteration and the complexity of small details which are vital to any good design. I feel these skills are very valuable and something that can make me an adaptable designer, thinking about a problem in multiple ways.

Think differently!

During the project given to us by BMW, we pushed ourselves to come up with creative ideas that not only matched the brief, but where original and new – because as a designer I believe we should always be evolving, thinking on ways to improve. Dealing with our client using this mindset was very eye opening, especially when presenting ideas, as we delivered a range of initial concepts early on and communicating our ideas was sometimes met with mixed opinions. However, during these online meetings we where able to work well with the BMW team and use their feedback to come up with a very new idea that Josh and myself feel proud to be apart of. 

In concluding my time at the Academy, I would like to give a special mention to the team Jordan, Rafael, James, Tim and Epi who always gave their time to help and share their expertise and knowledge. These team members not only inspired me during my internship but drive me to work harder and test the limits of what I can achieve.

Thank you for having me BMW Group + QUT Design Academy!

Best regards,

Jordan McNally 
BMW Group + QUT Design Academy Intern, Semester 2 2021